


Recovery

by SQ (proteinscollide)



Category: Southland, The OC
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Partnership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-21
Updated: 2012-06-21
Packaged: 2017-11-08 05:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/439827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/proteinscollide/pseuds/SQ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>New partners, old partners, and civilian alter egos. All in a day’s work for Ben Sherman, LAPD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recovery

**Author's Note:**

> Set before season 4 begins, but spoiler warning up to 4.01, just in case. Also, spoilers for the very last episode of The OC, but you probably don’t need a warning for that after 5 years, right?

They’re quiet in the black-and-white, most nights. Sammy’s a great guy, he doesn’t hold any airs for a former detective back on patrol, and in the month or so they’ve been partners Ben has a feeling they’re more similar than he and Cooper could’ve ever grown to be. But they haven’t really moved from _what did you do today, did you hear about, how about the game last night_ ; they still hasn’t quite found the right key, right rhythm to their conversation. 

“You know Ferguson’s just messing with you ‘cos you’re the newbie, it’s nothing personal?” Sammy says, breaking the silence. 

Ben grimaces as he navigates a tricky turn into traffic. “Yeah, I know, he’s just being a dick,” he says finally. “But it sure as hell sounds like he’s got a hate-on for me when he talking shit about my family and friends to my face.”

“That crack about being a boot bitch at rollcall?” Sammy asks, glancing sideways at Ben.

“Yeah, stuff like that. I don’t give a shit when he’s calling me pretty boy, poor rich kid, or whatever,” Ben says. “But stuff about partners - it just doesn’t feel right.”

Sammy looks down for a moment, quiet, then he says, “Yeah. Some things - yeah. You know I have your back, right?”

Ben knows why Sammy is back on patrol, what happened last year. Why some of the guys still give him a wide berth, why the others love him fiercely like a brother. He knows what it means to have his partner’s back, for sure. Ben knows all this, and he has no idea how to respond in this moment, so soon in their new partnership. 

Then the car in front of them starts swerving, weaving over the center line and before making a very sharp, illegal left turn and coming to an abrupt stop. Sammy looks at Ben, Ben looks at Sammy and there’s no need to say anything else. Ben’s already throwing the steering wheel to the right as Sammy says gleefully, “Light her up!”

Sammy goes driver’s side, Ben covering him on the passenger side. Sammy shines his torch into the window and says, “Sir, did you know you were - holy shit!”

Ben tightens the grip on his gun and anticipates the worst, but Sammy says quickly, in a calmer voice, “Sorry for the language sir, you just - you were swerving dangerously for a few minutes before you made that illegal turn...”

Ben’s keeping one eye on Sammy as he talks, he still looks a bit freaked out, but then the man slumped over in the passenger side shifts and leans out his window to see Ben with his gun out. He blinks, once, twice, and then he opens his mouth and yells, “Holy shit, Ryan! Parallel universe you has found us and he’s ready to kill! This is some Terminator shit…or wait, do I mean Lara Croft...what was I saying…oh right, Ryan! You have to see this!”

Ben stares back bemusedly as he hears Sammy says, “Sir, have you had a drink tonight? I’m going to have to ask you step out of the car.”

The guys are co-operative, though Ben has no idea if the passenger – Seth Cohen, according to his license - has any idea what’s going on. He stumbles to the kerb and sits with his arms around his legs as the driver proves to Sammy that he’s as sober as he says he is. Seth is definitely not though, and when he finally lifts his gaze and catches sight of Ben, he does another double take and says, “Ryan, did you get me a cop strippergram that looks just like you? That’s sweet – and a little disturbing.”

Ryan grimaces and looks quickly at Ben and says, “I’m sorry for my brother. He’s just had a pretty epic bachelor party and, well.”

Ben laughs it off kindly and says, “We do look a bit alike.”

“Yeah, it’s uncanny,” Sammy calls from the black and white where he’s running Ryan’s license. “Hey, do you mind me asking – you look more like Sherman here than your own brother, and you have different last names…”

“I’m adopted,” Ryan says.

“I’m sorry,” Ben says. “We shouldn’t have – “

“No, it was the best thing that happened to me,” Ryan says, one hand on Seth’s shoulder. “Seth’s dad was my court-appointed public defender. He got me out of juvie, and took me in, and turned my life around. I have a lot to be thankful for.”

Seth beams up at him. “Aww, you know you’re the best brother I could ever have, in any universe. No offense, bizarro Ryan.”

“None taken,” Ben says. “Okay, Mr Atwood, your license checks out and as long as you don’t let your brother drive, you’re free to go.”

“Thanks,” Ryan says. He put his hand in Seth’s and tugs him up, throwing his other arm around Seth’s waist just in time to catch him as started listing dangerously. “Time to go home and pour you into bed, buddy.”

“We’re leaving? Wait, officers, don’t go – I need a photo. Of Ryan and his doppelganger. Summer will never believe me if there’s no photographic proof.”

Sammy’s already got one leg in the car but Ben stops and turns around, and Sammy says, “Really?”

Ben gives him a small shrug and Sammy says, “You’re a good man, Sherman. Go on, get over there and I’ll take a photo for Nerdy McDrunk.”

Ben heads toward Ryan’s free side and Ryan’s reaching out to draw him in when Seth shrieks, “Stop! What are you doing man? You can’t TOUCH. What if you break the boundaries separating the universes and you get sucked into each other or something? Or become one compound person? Or, oh my god, what if it meant you both got sucked into a cosmic wormhole and both our universes ceased to exist?”

His eyes huge and even more dilated now, Seth tries to stand up straight on his own, batting his hands at Ben to shoo him away.

Ben stiffens, mindful of Seth’s movements and his proximity to the gun on his Sam Browne, and asks quietly, “Is he always like this?”

Ryan grabs at Seth’s hands to still them, then says fondly, “Yep.”

Sammy, waiting with the camera in his hand, says exasperatedly, “He’s really getting married? To a flesh and blood woman?”

Seth fumbles in his pocket for his phone, then peers myopically at the screen until he finds what he’s looking for. “This is my Summer,” he says proudly, turning it around for Ben and Sammy, who lean in to look at the photo.

Sammy whistles, then says, “Wow, she’s – man, this night is full of surprises.” He shakes his head then says, “Fine, Mr Cohen, get in the middle so the other two don’t touch and we can get this over and done with.”

But after he takes the shot, Sammy pulls out his own phone and snaps a quick one for himself. Ben gives him a look. Sammy grins and says, “The guys at the station will want to see this too.”

They move on, back into the heart of North Hollywood. It gets busy, a little nasty even, and by the end of the shift Ben’s sore from tackling not one but two suspects. He’s almost forgotten the encounter with his doppelganger, but as he walks back into the locker room after a good hot shower, there’s a cluster of guys huddled over Sammy’s phone.

“Hey pretty boy, you so Hollywood you got a double now?” Ferguson says, to hoots and hollers

“The skinny little dude thought he was the last stripper for the night,” Sammy adds, winking at Ben and the room explodes with dirty jokes. A few snap their towels at him, he’s pretty sure someone manages to grope his butt as he walks past the gauntlet to his locker, and a couple dollar bills flutter to the ground as he pulls off his towel.

“Very funny,” Ben says dryly, but he’s given as good as he’s getting in his two months here, he was due for a ribbing. So he just lets the jokes roll on over, even doing a small shimmy as he slides on his jeans.

As he’s about to leave, Sammy pulls him over and says, “No hard feelings?”

“Nope,” Ben says. “But give me a few more months and I’ll find something for them to humiliate you with, so don’t you worry partner.”

Sammy laughs, his eyes crinkling up as he slaps Ben on the back. “Is that how it is?” he says, but his tone turns serious as he adds, “Speaking of partners, Cooper’s getting assessed next week, to see if it’s desk job or active duty when he comes back.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Ben say quickly.

“So you talked to him recently?” Sammy says as they head out the doors to the car park.

“Uh, not since the hospital.” Ben kicks at his bike’s stand and misses, coughing as dust billows up instead. Sammy raises an eyebrow but he just waves goodbye as he walks off to his car. “See you tomorrow,” Ben says, and then he thinks again and adds, “Hey, do me a favor? Send me the photo.”

Later in the day, Ben’s sitting at his dining table, turning his phone over and over, wondering if he should call Cooper or not, when it buzzes. It’s a text from Sammy, with the photo attached.

The picture’s not great, grainy and a little dark and Seth’s eyes are half-closed, but the resemblance between Ben and Ryan is clear enough. Ben takes a long draw from his beer, and goes to close the photo. But a few quick taps later, he’s sent the photo to Cooper instead.

_Hey, thought you might find this funny…met civilian me last night._

Maybe he’s taking the coward’s way out – it’s the first time he’s contacted Cooper since he dropped him off outside the hospital. He doesn’t really expect a reply to something so asinine, but not ten minutes later his phone rings, loud in the empty house. 

Cooper doesn’t say hi but his voice is amused as he says, “Fuck he’s your spitting image. Who’d have thought there’d be more than one of you pretty blond boys to make the rest of the world feel even worse?”

Ben laughs, relaxes into his seat, takes a long draw from his beer. It’s the same shit that Ferguson and some of the other guys down at the station yell at him, yet somehow it sounds so much better coming from Cooper, in his gruff, fond voice.

“How did it feel, running into yourself?”

“Weird,” Ben says honestly. “He seemed like a nice guy, but. I don’t know. There’s a regular guy out there, with my face, but he’s not a cop. It’s unsettling.”

There’s a long pause, and Ben checks to see if they’ve been disconnected, before Cooper lets out a long sigh and says, “So I guess you heard about the exam.”

“Yeah. Are you – do you have anything to worry about?”

“If that’s your way of asking if I’m clean, yeah, I’m done with that shit.” Two months, and it’s like Ben’s forgotten that Cooper doesn’t beat around the bush, doesn’t suffer fools. But his voice is soft, vulnerable even, when he adds, “I’m hoping the back holds out for active duty. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to face myself as a regular guy. I hope I never have to find out.”

“You won’t,” Ben says. “You’ll be back on duty in no time. No man alive could keep you from the force. “

“Sure,” Cooper says, too casually, then he adds, “Hey, heard you’ve been partnered Bryant. Bit of a loose cannon. Bet he’s undoing all the hard work I spent making you a better cop.”

Ben smiles into his phone and lets the conversation slide away from Cooper’s fears. “Yeah, it’s terrible,” Ben teases. “He’s nicer to me than you ever were, teaching me what it’s like to have a mentor who actually likes me. Says he’s got my back.”

Cooper snorts. “I always had your back, boot,” he says. “Man, I hope they don’t give me another mouthy little shit like you when I come back.” 

Ben smiles again, and takes another deep pull from his beer. Even though Cooper’s joking about his replacement, he finds something to be glad in it. Cooper said _when_ , not _if_. He’s starting to sound like he believes he’ll be back - in a month, in two months, the time doesn’t matter. And in the meantime, Ben will believe and mean it enough for the both of them.

END


End file.
